Kevin Durant would reject White House visit

On Thursday, NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant made his stance on the issue clear: he would not go and does not want to meet President Trump.

In this Friday, June 9, 2017, file photo, Golden State Warriors' Kevin Durant (35) hugs teammate Stephen Curry (30) during the first half of Game 4 of basketball's NBA Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers, in Cleveland.

Head coach Steve Kerr has not been shy in expressing his displeasure with the president, but he — and other team officials — said any decision on what, until this year, has been a pro forma reward for the previous season’s NBA titlist would be made by a team vote.

In the past decade or so, an invitation typically has been a low-key procedure in which the White House — often the president himself — has contacted the title-winning team and rolled out the red carpet. A Warriors official confirmed this week that an invite has not been received.

With questions surrounding a potential White House visit for the Warriors, here's a look at the history of sports teams visiting the President.

Media: Time

“When we're all together (in training camp), we're going to meet as a team to discuss a White House visit,” Kerr told The Chronicle.

But in the ESPN interview, Durant strongly hinted that he knew how such a vote would turn out.

“I don’t agree with what he agrees with, so my voice is going to be heard by not doing that,” he said. “That’s just me personally, but if I know my guys well enough, they’ll all agree with me.”

The ESPN interview was conducted in Seat Pleasant, Md., Durant’s hometown, which is roughly a dozen miles from the White House.

Any White House visit likely would be planned around the Warriors’ Feb. 28 trip to the nation’s capital to play the Wizards. When the Warriors won the 2015 NBA title, they met President Barack Obama in the White House on Feb. 4, 2016 — the day after their game against the Wizards.

Durant’s comments come at a time when racial issues again have jumped to the forefront of the national discussion. A woman was killed and more than a dozen people were hurt when a white supremacist drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters at a rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday.

That incident, and the president’s criticized comments about it, apparently led to Durant making public his opinion.

“I just wanted to sit back and analyze everything and gather my thoughts,” Durant told ESPN. “I wanted to say something immediately, but I definitely want to be the voice of where I come from and people who have come from my neighborhood and deal with oppression.

“I’m representing a lot of people. As far as what’s going on in our country, for one, as an athlete, you have to commend Colin Kaepernick, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, CP3 (Chris Paul) (and) Dwyane Wade for starting that conversation last year. Russell Westbrook also said something in his speech. A lot (of) guys with platforms have drove the conversation in a good direction. And what’s going on in Charlottesville, that was unfathomable.”

Durant placed blame for the confrontation at the feet of the president.

“He’s definitely driving it,” Durant said. “I feel ever since he’s got into office, or since he ran for the presidency, our country has been so divided, and it’s not a coincidence. ... It all comes from who is in the administration.”

The issue of a possible visit to a Trump White House had been an aside during the Warriors’ regular season. But when the team beat the Cavs in five games to win its second NBA title in three years in June, it was among the first questions guard Stephen Curry was asked the next day.

“Somebody asked me about it a couple months ago, a hypothetical, if a championship were to happen, what would I do?” Curry said June 14. “I think I answered I wouldn’t go. Still feel like that today.”

In February, Curry’s opinions about the president first became public when he responded to Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank’s description of Trump as an “asset” for the country by saying, “I agree with that description if you remove the ‘et’ from asset.”